Feel Again
by thestarsaresobrighthere
Summary: That night in Godric's Hollow, Danilynn Black planted a memory in Harry Potter's head, designed to emerge slowly over time. She erased it from her own mind, in order to protect herself, her husband, and Harry. There's a secret locked in Harry's head, and it's coming out. What's the secret? No one knows, not even Harry, but he can't shake the feeling that it will change everything.
1. Chameleon Souls

**Disclaimer: JKR is queen etc. etc. like seriously you guys know the drill, don't steal my shit**

**Hey guys so you may or may not have read _Born to Die_ but i took it down because i kind of realized it was going no where but i liked the name for the OC so please dont be confused. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON. I REPEAT: THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON. alrighty now that we've got that out of the way, please enjoy my rendition of little Potter characters and what Harry's childhood should have been!**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy,**

**Stars.**

* * *

_I was always an unusual girl._  
_My mother told me I had a chameleon soul, no moral compass pointing due north, no fixed personality; just an inner indecisiveness that was as wide and as wavering as the ocean..._  
_And if I said I didn't plan for it to turn out this way I'd be lying..._  
_I was a woman who belonged to no one, who belonged to everyone._  
_Who had nothing, who wanted everything, with a fire for every experience and an obsession for freedom that terrified me to the point that I couldn't even talk about it, and pushed me to a nomadic point of madness that both dazzled and dizzied me._

_~Lana Del Ray, Ride (the music video)_

* * *

It was always the same dream.

The flash of green light, the laughter, a woman's whisper, and a flash of silver hair whipping away from him. Harry Potter had never been sure if he had just invented last part as he got older because he could have sworn that in his incredibly young years, such as the age of 3 or 4, that there had been no woman's hair or whisper or even the laughter, just the green light. If he was being honest, the woman's whisper scared him more than the light or the laughter did. Even at the small age of eight that he was now, he understood that she was trying to say something incredibly important to him. She was trying to convey a detail of his life to him before she ran away from his crib, a single sentence, a few words even, and he knew in the core of his being that they would change everything he knew.

If only he could hear more than the indistinct sound of her voice and see more than the back of her head for a few seconds. If only he could understand her.

Harry could, however, understand his Aunt Petunia quite well as she was screaming at him to get up through the cupboard stairs.

"Get up! There's bacon on the oven and you'll be finishing cooking it while I go run Dudley's bath. There'll be Hell to pay if you burn it." She threatened at the end of her command and Harry shuttered, thinking about the last time he had let food on 4 Privet Drive burn. There had been a lashing with Uncle Vernon's belt and a lecture he was pretty sure he'd never un-hear.

"I'm getting up. Just let me find the light you hag." He whispered the last part and there was a sharp,

"What was that?" from the other side of the door

"Nothing, nothing." Harry quickly replied. "I'm getting up." Harry pushed open the cupboard door to reveal that his aunt was (thankfully) walking away from where he was emerging. Harry quickly shuffled into the kitchen, which was blissfully empty, to make sure the bacon didn't, heavens forbid, _burn_. He found the footstool he used to reach the oven (he was greatly looking forward to the day he didn't have to use the thing) and checked the bacon's crispiness. He poked it with the spatula next to the oven and sighed. He missed his parents. He didn't even remember them, but he missed them, for a terribly simple reason: they had to have been better than the Dursleys. There was no alternative. They _had to_.

As he was mulling this over, there was a flash of light in the kitchen and Harry blindly brandished his spatula in case it was Dudley trying out fireworks inside or something. But it wasn't. When the light cleared, there was a glowing, silver, dog in the kitchen. But as Harry stepped on his footstool and approached the dog, he realized that it was a bit too big to be a dog.

"Are…are you a wolf?" The large creature nodded its great head slowly and then brushed up against the young boy's arm. When he touched the animal, he felt warmth and love emanating from it, but there was a tinge of grief in the wolf too. Grief and sadness. The door banged open and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon walked in and spotted the wolf. Petunia screamed, Vernon shouted at it, and Dudley, who entered after his parents, passed out. The wolf stood and spoke to Harry's aunt.

"Remember who he is, Petunia. And remember who _I_ am." Harry's jaw dropped. It was _her_ voice. As the wolf finished speaking, it vanished into a swirl of silver mist that quickly dissipated in the air conditioning of the house.

"Harry Potter! What were you thinking, letting that—that _thing_ into the house?!"

"I didn't let it in! It just appeared—it was like magic!" Uncle Vernon grabbed Harry by the collar of his shirt,

"_There is no such thing as magic!_" Petunia screamed,

"Vernon. Vernon! Put him down! Didn't you hear her? They're watching us and the last thing any of us need is for _her_ to think that we're mistreating him."

"Oh, come on, what is that woman going to do? She hasn't shown her face since before he was born, she can come and get me for all I care! Her _and_ her murdering husband! Oh wait, that's right, _he's in jail._" Aunt Petunia's face paled and there was a knock at the door. Uncle Vernon quickly dropped Harry and said, "Petunia, go upstairs and get my gun."

"Vernon—"

"Petunia. Gun. Now." Aunt Petunia vanished up the stairs as the knocking got more and more insistent at the front door. Dudley began to come back around and Vernon said to him,

"Dudders, you got to stay back here in the Kitchen, got it?" Dudley nodded his beefy head and Vernon addressed Harry, "_You_ are going to your cupboard." Harry was unceremoniously tossed into the cupboard and the door was locked behind him. Harry anxiously pressed his ear to the door, trying to hear what was going on, on the other side of that flimsy wooden cover.

He heard someone open the door and a metallic click. Uncle Vernon's gun, Harry figured.

"Hello Petunia, Vernon. How are you this marvelous…oh is it afternoon already? Hm, all this travelling is really getting the better of me. None of us are as young as we used to be, especially you, eh Tuney?" Harry gasped. It was _her_. There was a tinkling laugh from her and Aunt Petunia remained dead silent.

"Look, I don't know who you think you are lady—"

"No, the real question is who do _you_ think _you _are, Vernon? You are mistreating the Boy-Who-Lived, and because you asked so nicely, here I am, to 'come and get you'." Harry could hear the quotes in her voice and the venom hidden behind the façade of cheer, "Oh and don't bother with the gun. In case you haven't noticed I'm remarkably difficult to kill, rather like your nephew, wouldn't you say? But you see, we're all very much the same. You feel pain in the same ways we do. You scream like us, your bones break like ours, you bleed like us, and you can_ die_ like us, too." The cheer had vanished and her voice was cold, "But you're different from Harry and I at the same time. You're a lot easier to kill. You're _weaker_. If that little boy I know you have locked in that cupboard could kill you accidentally, imagine what I could do."

"Why are you really here, Masters?"

"It's Black, Petunia, in case you've forgotten, which I seriously doubt considering your husband's outburst just minutes ago. And I want to see Harry. I locked something in his head the night his parents were killed and I'd very much like it back." Harry smiled in the dark. It _was _her. The lady with the silver hair. He began to bang on the door.

"Let me out!" Moments after he shouted the door unlocked to reveal a young woman, no more than 26 or 27, with long silver hair and blue eyes.

"Hello, Harry. My name is Danilynn Black. I'm your Godmother." Harry observed her shyly, not quite sure of how she was going to treat him, you could never tell. But he trusted her because of her dreams, so he answered her.

"Hello, Miss. Danilynn." She laughed and pulled him out of the cupboard and into a big hug, taking him by surprise,

"Oh gosh, call me Dany, that's what you called me as a little one. Well it was more like 'Annie' but you get the idea."

"I knew you as a baby?" She nodded at him,

"Yep, you sure did. I was your mom's best friend. That's why I'm your Godmother. Harry dear, have you been having dreams? Bad dreams with green lights in them?" He nodded at her enthusiastically, eager to tell her what he knew.

"Yeah. Every night I see a green light. And your hair. I hear you whispering to me in my crib."

"What do I say?" Harry feels his face fall.

"I—I don't know. I can't hear you. I can hear just a bunch of sounds, but no words. What you're saying to me is short though. A sentence or two at the most. But I can never understand you. I'm sorry." She smiled at him and said,

"I'm not surprised. It will come with time. Now, how about we get you out of this house for a little while?" Harry nodded to her excitedly and rushed past her, out of the cupboard. His aunt and uncle were standing in front of the door, which was still hanging ajar from his Godmother's entrance. Both of their mouths were hanging open and were staring at Dany, flabbergasted.

Dany stood to her full height and took Harry's hand, something that no one had ever done before.

"Dany?" She looked down at him gently,

"Yes, Harry?"

"There's a man laughing, too. In my dream there's always a man laughing." A dark shadow crossed over her face and said,

"Is there really? We'll talk about that at lunch, okay?" As they were walking out of the door away from 4 Privet Drive, Danilynn Black, wife of Sirius Black and Godmother of Harry Potter called out to her best friend's sister, "Oh and Petunia? I'd check on that bacon if I were you. You wouldn't want it to burn."


	2. A Man of Constant Sorrow

**Disclaimer: yeah, I got it. it's insulting enough as it is.**

**so i hope everyone likes this one! I'm going to kind of alternate between Harry, Dany, and Sirius for a while, so here is Sirius' chapter!**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy,**

**Stars.**

* * *

_I am a man of constant sorrow _  
_I've seen trouble all my day. _

_For six long years I've been in trouble _  
_No pleasures here on earth I found _  
_For in this world I'm bound to ramble _  
_I have no friends to help me now. _

_It's fare thee well my old lover _  
_I never expect to see you again _  
_For I'm bound to ride that northern railroad _  
_Perhaps I'll die upon this train. **  
**_

_~I am a Man of Constant Sorrow, The Soggy Bottom Boys_

* * *

Sirius Black was miserable. He was hiding in the corner of his cell in Azkaban, trying to remember the light. As the years inevitably suffered on, this became more and more difficult. Where he could remember entire nights before, and many of them, he could now only remember two or three complete nights and many flashes. James' smirk. Dany's hair. Lily's eyes. Remus' laugh. There were exactly three happy nights he could remember fully. Lily and James' wedding, Harry's birth, and his own wedding.

The rest of the nights were tragic. The night they lost Alice and Frank to insanity. The night Marlene was killed. The he found Lily and James' bodies. The night Dany was ripped away from him as he was dragged to Azkaban. He could still hear her screams. Those were the easy memories to recall. His wedding: the flowers in Dany's hair, the grin on James' face before she walked down the isle, Lily's whisper of "treat her right or I'll kill you. Even if I'm dead, I'll come back form the grave to kill you. And then I'll kill you in the afterlife. Again." His wedding was becoming incredibly difficult to remember with the detail that he could remember the single tear halted mid-track on James' cold cheek. He could remember Dany's sobs for Lily better than he could remember her halting gasping vows at their wedding, or her tears at their Godson's birth.

"_Hey, now let's be optimistic and give Jamsie and his lovely bride over there, six months of marriage. Ow…ow…fine, eight months, but I'm not going any higher, babe."_

"_Sirius, for the love of God, it's your brother's wedding day."_

"_I know Dany, that's why I gotta be so hard on him: he's my brother. But anyways man, I think that Lily is literally the best thing to ever happen to you since, like, us."_

"_Damn straight we are. This is why I married him, Lils. He knows how great I am."_

"_Shut up and wait for your speech, Danilynn."_

"_Oh, you hear that, love? The bride just used your full name. This is getting serious up in here. But anyways, treat that lovely girl over there right because I'm pretty sure that Dany will kill you if you don't and because I'm her husband, I'm going to be required to help or at least be neutral in that. So, good luck man getting your shit together. Oh, and Lils? Be aware that he may or may not talk in his sleep. But on the bright side, seven years of sharing a room has led to the discovery that it's pretty funny. And even funnier to record."_

"_Padfoot! Don't tell her that!"_

"_Sorry, man. She needs to know, best-man-to-bride."_

That's all he could remember of his speech, but then again, that might have been all there was. He couldn't really remember. As pathetic as it seemed, he found it helpful to say who he was out loud. Sure, it sounded like he was going mad, but then again, most people in this place were already a tad, if not completely, insane.

"My name is Sirius Orion Black. I am married to Danilynn Charlotte Masters, who took my surname of Black. We were married at the age of 17 on July 23, 1977. My best man was James Charlus Potter. Dany's Maid-of-Honor was Lily Evans. James and Lily were married September 12, 1977 and we were their best man and Matron-of-Honor. I am the Godfather of Harry James Potter. I am innocent. I am an innocent man. I love my wife. I love my godson. I am innocent. I—I was an Auror. So were Dany, Lily, and James. I fought for the light." It was like a mantra. Sirius Black. Dany. July 23. James. Lily. Harry. Innocent. Innocent. Innocent.

Just as he was repeating the mantra for the third time, the Dementors disappeared and a man's voice filled the hallway outside his cell.

"Come on, Shacklebolt, let's get this damn inspection over with. I want to get back to my office before four." Sirius looked up. The Minister. "Speaking of which, where's Masters? Isn't she supposed to be on shift for this month?" This got his attention. There was only one living Masters left: Dany.

"She took a personal day. Something about her Godson." Harry. Dany was with Harry.

"You know I still don't understand why the Wizengamot has been so lenient with her. That entire family has been a menace since they took office two thousand years ago."

"Minister…Danilynn Masters may be an Auror but she also has more money than God. Not to mention that her father was Minister during the early 70s. Rumor has it that she married Sirius Black, too. If that's true she's the only heir to the Masters' family fortune and the last free person bearing the last name Black, which means she also has more power than God, too." Kingsley Shacklebolt said in his slow voice. Sirius remembered him dimly, but he had been only in training during the first war.

"Ah, yes, money speaks louder than words with some of those old coots. Most of them, actually. Not to mention the power that comes along with one of those surnames, let alone both. Speaking of Blacks…here we are."


	3. Hope

**Disclaimer: don't steal my shit because i'm not stealing from Queen JKR**

**Heyy! So you guys might even get another chapter from me today or tomorrow!**

** So someone asked about if Dany has this super powerful family why can't she just snap her fingers and free Sirius, and that's explained in this chapter (PS Fudge is kind of a stubborn asshole if you didn't catch that in OoTP).**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy,**

**Stars.**

* * *

_But I will hold on hope_  
_And I won't let you choke_  
_On the noose around your neck_

_And I'll find strength in pain_  
_And I will change my ways_  
_I'll know my name as it's called again_

_~The Cave, Mumford and Sons_

* * *

Dany was sitting across from Harry in a breakfast restaurant that he had chosen from the backseat of her car. He was now happily munching on pancakes and bacon, as Dany drank her coffee. She hadn't started off particularly liking the drink but by the time she was 20 it had become essentially her lifeblood. She blamed Sirius, honestly.

"Miss. Danilynn?"

"Harry, you can just call me Dany. Really, I'd really rather you did."

"Sorry, Dany. I—I was just wondering if you could tell me about the laughter. You know, in my dreams." Dany tried not to let her gentle smile falter but she couldn't stop her memories from rising up in her eyes. Sirius. James. Lily. Gone. They're all gone. She thought about Harry, about how old he was. Eight was young to know the horrible truth of your parents death, but too old to be lied to.

"What have your aunt and uncle told you about how your parents died?"

"Just that they died in a car crash. I'm not really allowed to ask questions." Dany felt that familiar burn in the back of her throat and the itch in her hands to wrap them around Petunia's long, skinny, throat. Dany took a long breath and looked sadly at her Godson,

"Harry, this—this is really hard for me to tell you, do you understand that? But you need to know. Your parents, Lily and James, they didn't die in a car crash." Harry's eye lit up,

"They're alive?" She hated to crush this hope. But she had to. She had to. For Sirius and for Harry.

"No, no dear, they're dead, but they weren't killed in an accident. A man named Tom Riddle murdered them. But when he killed them, he went by the name of Lord Voldemort. That scar you have on your forehead? It's not a normal scar, that's where he tried to kill you too." Her Godson's eyes grew huge.

"_He tried to kill me too? _Why did he try to kill me and my parents?" Dany cast a wary eye around and noticed a man in a suspicious outfit that looked a little too much like ministry robes for her liking,

"Harry, darling, I really think we should discuss this somewhere else, okay?" Harry reluctantly nodded and Dany waved the waitress over for the check, "Oh, and his coffee's on me." She pointed to the suspected Ministry worker, "Give him my regards, too." Dany smiled sweetly and handed the woman the correct sum of money plus a little extra to her and guided her Godson out of the diner with a cheery wave to the on looking man, who looked horrified that he had been ousted by a young woman. Thy walked down the street and entered a small park with children playing and teenagers on dates and old couples reading and chatting. They occupied a bench a little separated from other people and Harry turned to his Godmother again,

"Dany, why was this Voldemort guy after my mom and dad?" Dany mulled over how to breach the topic of magic,

"Do you remember the wolf in the kitchen?" Harry nodded, smiling at the thought, "Well, there are more things like that, because magic, well, it's is real. There are witches and wizards in the world, although they choose to remain hidden."

"You're a witch?"

"I am. And so was your mother. Your father was a wizard, which makes you one too. You're magic, a wizard. "

"I—I am?"

"You are indeed. I promise to tell you much more about it but I must first answer the question about your parents before it gets lost in all the magic questions. The first thing you have to understand is that not all magic is like the wolf. There is bad magic, dark magic, and back when your parents and I were a little older than you; a man came into power, named Lord Voldemort. He was a wicked man and believed that some wizards and witches were better than others because they comes from all Wizarding families—"

"That's awful!"

"Your mom was a witch born to non-magic folks, who are called Muggles, making her a Muggleborn. And when your parents left school they decided to fight Lord Voldemort, along with my husband and myself. We became Aurors, which are kind of like policemen, pretty much bad-wizard catchers. A year or two further into the war against Voldemort, your parents were part of a major revolution against him and because of their resistance, he killed them, and I suspect that he liked killing by then and tried to kill you, but for some reason the curse backfired, killing him. But that is the laughter. That is Voldemort trying to kill you."

"I hate him! I hate him, I hate him!"

"So do I, Buddy. So do I." And she did. Who the Hell laughs as they kill a freshly orphaned baby?

"Dany, did you say you had a husband?" Dany smiled a little at the thought of Sirius.

"I do. But he was put in jail for something he didn't do. He was put in jail for giving up your parents to Voldemort. That's what I'm whispering to you in your dreams, you know, who really gave them up. I planted it in your mind, to reveal itself when the time was right, and then erased it from my memories. You've got a secret up in there, Bud." She ruffled his hair lightly and murmured, "He's your Godfather you know, my husband. Once we get that name out of your head, we'll all get to be a family, the way your mom and dad wanted it in their wills."

"I never have to go back to the Dursley's?" Dany winked at the hopeful boy,

"Not if I have anything to do with it. And trust me, I have quite a bit to do with most things in the Wizarding world."

"Dany? What's my Godfather's name?" Dany smiled and said softly,

"Sirius. Sirius Black. When you were a baby you called him 'Padfoot'. It was a nickname that your dad gave him when they were only a few years older than you are now."

"When am I gonna be able to meet him?" Dany sighed and wrapped an arm around her sweet Godson,

"I don't know. I've tried to get him out, and the Wizengamot, that's the Wizard equivalent of Parliament, is willing to hear me and maybe even let him go, but the Minister of Magic won't hear of it. Fudge always did have a cinderblock for a brain."

"You need my memories, then?"

"Eventually, but I think for right now, we should focus on getting you out of the Dursley's house. Unless you'd like to go back…" Dany winked and Harry stuck his tongue out,

"No thank you!"

"Harry, you have to understand that for me to take you away from them people are going to ask you how you were treated there. You need to be 100% completely honest with them, got it?" He nodded and Dany whispered,

"You ready to go see some magic?" They both stood and Harry took her hand as she led him to a dingy looking building labeled 'The Leaky Cauldron'.


	4. Dirty Paws

**Disclaimer: ...**

**Hey guys! So this is the chapter that more of our canon characters finally make an appearance (werewolves anyone?) and we get to see (my version) what exactly happened in Godric's Hollow, so yeah, I hope you guys like reading it as much as I liked writing it!**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy,**

**Stars.**

* * *

_And for a while things were cold;_  
_They were scared down in their homes._  
_The forest that once was green_  
_Was colored black by those killing machines._  
_But she and her furry friends_  
_Took down the queen bee and her men_  
_And that's how the story goes,_  
_The story of the beast with those four dirty paws_.

_~Dirty Paws, Of Monsters and Men_

* * *

The first thing Harry noticed about the Leaky Cauldron was that it was very accurately named, as there did seem to be leaks everywhere. He held tightly onto his Godmother's hand as she walked towards the bar. The bartender smiled at her,

"Ah, Miss. Danilynn! Usual, I presume?" She laughed a little and shook her head,

"No, no drinking today, Tom, sobriety is important at the moment. I'm looking for Remus. You wouldn't happen to know where the wolf is, would you?" The man, Tom, laughed,

"As a matter of fact, he's renting a room upstairs, and I do believe that he's here right now. 7B."

"Thanks, Tom. Come on, sweetie." Harry was gently pulled along by Dany until he heard someone say,

"Good God. It's Harry Potter." Tom dropped the glass he was drying and the entire room went silent.

"Danilynn Charlotte. Why do you have Harry Potter with you?"

"He's my Godson, Tom. Lily and James left it up to me to protect and raise him, and that's my intention. If you have a problem with that, we'll _talk_ later." Tom nodded and Harry couldn't help but notice that the last part of his Godmother's words were hanging in the room almost as a veiled threat, implying that everything _but_ talking would be going on. Dany guided him from the room and Harry could feel everyone watching him as they left. They climbed the stars until they reached a black door with paint peeling off it that looked very much like every other door in the Leaky Cauldron. Dany knocked loudly, and highly impatiently.

"Remus. Remus John Lupin. You open this door or I swear to whatever God there may be, I'll knock it over." Moments later a man in tattered clothing and a serious case of bed head opened the door, rubbing his eyes,

"Bloody Hell, woman. No wonder you and Sirius got on so well, neither of you has an ounce of patience." The man, presumably named Remus John Lupin, muttered as he finally looked at the woman in his doorway, and the boy holding her hand.

"Oh…oh, Dany. It's—it's him, isn't it?" She nodded.

"I picked him up from Petunia this morning. Harry, say hello to Remus. He is one of my best friends and was a close friend of your mom and dad, as well." Harry looked up at the man and smiled,

"Hello." Remus crouched down and said,

"Hey Harry. It's been a long time. Gosh, you're eight now, am I right?" Harry nodded rather shyly, "You look just like your dad, you know? Just like James." Harry swelled with pride at being compared to his father, "Why don't you both come in and we'll all talk?" Harry looked pleadingly at Dany, who laughed a little and said,

"Of course, Remus, we didn't come find you for nothing after all." Harry trailed Dany as they walked in and she soon sat on the floor. Harry followed suit, clinging to his Godmother, and Remus rummaged through his belongings.

"Harry, have you ever seen your parents?"

"N—No, sir."

"Oh, please call me Remus, or Moony, that's what your dad called me after all, and come here and you can see them. I have lots and lots of pictures of them both." Harry abandoned Dany's hand and rushed over to where Moony had a thick, leather bound book in his hands. Harry took the book carefully and opened it to a picture of four boys laughing. To his surprise the pictures were moving.

"Magic pictures." Dany said from her position on the other side of the room.

Remus pointed to one of the boys and said, "That's your dad, James. That's me. And that's our friend Peter." Remus pointed to a boy with glasses and a shock of black hair, a boy that was clearly a younger version of the man in front of him, and a pudgy boy who was rather shorter than the others.

"Who's that?" Harry pointed to the fourth boy, who also had black hair. He was laughing and shoved Harry's dad out of the frame jokingly. James came back and promptly pushed the other boy over.

"That's the man who kill—"

"Remus." Dany warned from across the room.

"Oh come _on_, Danilynn, he killed them!" Dany stood up and Harry slowly backed into a corner.

"He did _not_. You should be ashamed of yourself for being so willing to think so poorly of someone who would have _died_ for you."

"The Ministry—" Remus started by Dany didn't let him finish. Something had changed in her.

"_The Ministry_ didn't even give him a trial."

"The Minister himself arrested him!"

"I'm shocked at you, Remus. Those people hate your kind and you're going to stand here and defend them for _arresting my husband_? Lily and James, not to mention your parents, would be so disappointed."

"He's a Death Eater!" A vase in the corner shattered with no apparent outside influence. Glass tinkled to the ground in the corner.

"No, he's _not_! I came to you for help, Remus. And you wouldn't give it to me."

"We are _not_ going there now. If Sirius wasn't the secret keeper than who was?" Dany fell silent for a moment,

"I don't know anymore. I used to, but I don't anymore. That night, I told Harry and buried it in his memory to protect all of us, but I erased the name from my own memory."

"Convenient, wouldn't you say?" Dany looked like she was going to rip out Remus' throat.

"It's coming back, the memory." Harry finally spoke and the looks on both adults' faces said quite clearly they had forgotten he was there, "I'll remember the name soon."

"Dumbledore can get the name from him. That's why I came here. I need you to get in contact with him." Remus sighed.

"Fine. _Fine._ I'll Floo call him." Moony walked over to the fireplace and took a handful of sandy stuff and threw it into the fireplace, "Albus, a word if you don't mind?" for a moment nothing happened, but then soon a figure emerged from the fireplace. A wizened old man with a beard tucked into his belt and half-moon glasses stepped out of the fireplace and Harry was pretty sure that he was going to wake up from this dream any moment. This _had_ to be a dream. People just didn't appear in fireplaces. Dany bent down and whispered,

"Magic."

"Remus, a pleasure as always. Danilynn Black, it _has_ been a long time, hasn't it?" Dany nodded slowly.

"Seven years, to be exact. I trust you know who this is, Albus." The old man nodded knowingly and said,

"Of course. What is the reason you called me here for?"

"Danilynn claims she placed the name of the secret keeper in Harry's mind the night Lily and James were killed in Godric's Hollow. I want to know if you could extract the name from him. He says that the memory is coming back, but it could be years before a name becomes intelligible."

"I can try. Danilynn is a powerful witch Remus, I may not be able to override her spell."

"It wasn't my best, given the, erm, time crunch of Voldemort coming up the stairs to murder one of my best friends and Godson." Dany muttered from the corner, eyeing Remus with a look of borderline disgust on her pretty face, standing in contrast with her bright silver-blonde hair. Albus approached Harry and said calmly,

"Hello Harry, my name is Professor Dumbledore and I am here to help you get your memory back. Is that okay with you?" Harry nodded and the Professor held out a hand that Harry hesitantly took, "Ready? I'm just going to project your memory onto this room so we can all see it." Harry nodded again and for a moment nothing happened, but then suddenly, the room changed.

They were in a living room. Harry recognized his dad from the picture, and supposed the baby must be him. James was putting puffs of colored smoke into the air for baby Harry to try to catch in his baby fists. Suddenly, a young man and woman appeared from another room, in stark contrast of each other. The man had dark hair off-setting the woman's silvery locks; the woman had gentle blue eyes contrasting with the man's more shadowed eyes. The woman was short, the man tall. But 18-year-old Danilynn and Sirius held hands. A woman with bright red hair followed them into the room. Harry heard Remus mutter "Lily". They were laughing; all four of them, at Baby Harry's antics and Lily bent down to scoop up her son and take him to bed. Dany left with her best friend, leaving James and Sirius in the living room.

However, the memory followed Harry and so both the men vanished from the view of the memory. Dany was sitting in a rocking chair as Lily changed Harry's diaper.

"What was that?" Lily abruptly asked her friend.

"I didn't hear anything, Lils…"

"I have Mom ears, Dany, they're _never _wrong." The blonde didn't seem to believe her friend but consented,

"I'll go shout down to the boys. Sirius! Ja—" Just then Sirius came barging into the room, covering her mouth.

"He's here." Lily wheeled around and placed Harry in his crib.

"What? Padfoot, where's James? _Where is my husband?_" Sirius shook his head slowly,

"He made me come up here. He made me swear that if I had a choice to save him or you, I would pick you, Lils. You have to go. Get Harry and come with us." Lily shook her head,

"No. I'm done running. Sirius, leave. You need to go, _now_. Everyone will think you're the secret keeper. You'll be found guilty if you stay. Azkaban isn't a good place to be. _Go."_ Sirius hugged Lily and kissed his wife and Apparated out of the house, "Dany, put the Secret-Keeper's name in his head. Tell him and let it reappear when it's safe. The world should know. Sirius will be targeted for something he didn't do, and I apologize in advance for the hard years to come that are our fault. I love you, sissy."

Just as she finished speaking, the door opened to reveal Voldemort, a face no one in the room had seen in almost a decade. Dany ran over to the crib as Lily bargained for her son's life.

"Harry, we love you. Your mom and dad, Sirius and I, we all love you. The secret keeper's name is—" a flash of green light filled the room and Lily screamed. Dany fired a jet of light at Voldemort, "—Peter Pettigrew." The last living human in the house sent a killing curse at Voldemort as a desperate hope and vanished, her hair flashing in the light, trusting Lily's sacrifice to protect Harry, leaving only a whisper of the last word ever spoken in that house with good intention, "_obliviate"_. Voldemort laughed and created another flash of green light, but this time there was a spectacular bang that accompanied it, then the memory ended with the sound of baby Harry screaming.


	5. It's All Uphill From Here

**Disclaimer: yeah we all got it. Let's not make me sad and talk about it, too...**

**Hey! So this is a super short, yet super important chapter because this is it! This is the chapter where there's a Dany/Sirius reunion and oh gosh i even wrote the next, like, three chapters and because this is so short so you can all thank me later ;)**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy,**

**Stars.**

* * *

_It's who we are_  
_Doesn't matter if we've gone too far_  
_Doesn't matter if it's all okay_  
_Doesn't matter if it's night or day_

_So won't you save us_  
_What we are_  
_Don't look clear_  
_Cause it's all uphill from here._

_~Imagine Dragons, Who We Are_

* * *

"Sirius Black." Fudge sniffed as he looked into Sirius' cell, on the last stop of his inspection, the high security cells, the Minister looked tired and like he would rather be having some kind of illicit affair behind his wife's back, which according to his thoughts, he was. Sirius smirked slightly to himself as he leaned against the cell wall near the bars, the bastard never did learn to control his thoughts, despite the Aurors urging to do so.

"Cornelius Fudge."

"That's 'Minister', Black."

"Well if we're talking titles, I'm technically a Lord, so that's 'Lord' to you, Fudge." Sirius was pretty sure he heard Kingsley snicker behind the Minister, despite his supposed status as murderer and traitor.

"Oh, yes, _so _Lordly, aren't you, Black? I must say, _this_ is the pinnacle of luxury." Just as the last word left Fudge's mouth, the door at the end of the hallway banged open incredibly loudly and there were rapid footsteps approaching. Fudge looked up and his face shifted to confusion, and then to irritation.

"Dumbledore? What in Merlin's name are you doing here? Actually the better question is, what are you doing here with _Masters_?"

"Cornelius, I feel like we can all calm down, but things must be discussed, and here is a place as appropriate as any other, I suppose."

"Very well. Masters, Shacklebolt, leave us." Sirius almost said something, he hadn't seen Dany in, well he didn't know how long exactly, but it had been years, at the very least, and she was no more than five feet away. He wanted to see his wife. _Now._

"No."

"Danilynn Charlotte Masters, you _will_ do as you're told."

"I'm not going anywhere, Cornelius. And it's not Masters, it hasn't been for quite a while, actually. You _have _to have heard the rumors by now."

"Leave."

"Make me." Sirius backed up from the bars slowly, catching the vicious tone of her voice. This was going to end badly. He could tell and he _still _couldn't see her face. Dumbledore was no fool either and intervened,

"Now, let's all calm down. I do believe that Danilynn has every right to be here for this discussion, as does the prisoner it involves. We do have reason to believe that Peter Pettigrew was the Secret-Keeper for the Potters, seven years ago."

"And what evidence is there?"

"Young Harry Potter chose to share his latent memories of that night with his Godmother, Remus Lupin, and myself. The memories reveal that both Sirius and Danilynn Black—"

"They _are_ married!" Dumbledore ignored Fudge,

"—Were at the Potter household on the night of the attack and Lily and Danilynn planted the memory in his head to reappear at a time where it would be safe to reveal such information."

"I'm not letting him just walk free." Fudge snarled at Dumbledore, but it wasn't Dumbledore who answered,

"You can and you will. Because you can't honestly think that you were the first people we went to with this information. The power to drop charges and give trials rests with you, but the power to _reassign _charges rests with the Wizengamot, who are quite fond of me, by the way. You will release him and you will do it now as per orders from the Wizengamot, which are right here, before bad things start to happen. A string of unfortunate events follow people who cross me the wrong way, Cornelius. And _believe me_ when I say that you do not want to be on the receiving end of those events."

"She's being very serious, Minister. I've been under her instruction my entire career with the Auror department and you will very sorely regret keeping him in this cell." Kingsley informed the Minister in his slow, reassuring way. After he stopped talking, Dany continued speaking and Sirius could visualize her wildly gesticulating with her hands as she spoke, even thought he was still standing up against the wall, wondering if this was actually happening,

"For starters, you'll lose your position. Your fall from power will be astounding and fast, and before you know it, you'll be exactly where you were 10 years ago, but with a disgraced and dishonest reputation. You don't want that, _do you, Fudge_?"

"Cornelius, it is what is wise, and what is right. Release the innocent man that you have kept locked away for so long. You have no other option." Fudge looked rather outraged but motioned to someone Sirius couldn't see. Kingsley stepped forward and unlocked the door.

"Come on, there's someone here to see you, and she's a lot prettier than any of us." The younger man winked at the man who was once his mentor and allowed him to step out of his cell.

Sirius cautiously stepped through the door, but no one pushed him back in or tried to restrain him. Kingsley and the other guards looked ashamed at keeping a locked man imprisoned for so long. Fudge still looked irritated and Dumbledore was smiling at him slightly. Next to Dumbledore was a short woman with silver-blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She grinned at him and for the first time in a long time, Sirius Black smiled a real smile. He slowly moved towards her, not sure about how she would react to the way he looked, which, from what he had gleaned from reflections in puddles and water cups, was pretty horrible. Before he could allow his thoughts to go any further, she did what he had always considered to be too outlandish to consider ever again: she kissed him.


	6. Long Time Coming

**Disclaimer: yeah...**

**so because I wrote way too much I broke it up into two chapters, so here you guys go!**

* * *

_It's been a long time coming since I've seen your face_  
_I've been everywhere and back trying to replace_  
_Everything that I had 'til my feet went numb_  
_Praying like a fool that's been on the run_

_Heart's still beating but it's not working_  
_It's like a million dollar phone that you just can't ring_  
_I reached out trying to love but I feel nothing_  
_Yeah, my heart is numb_

_But with you_  
_I feel again_  
_Yeah, with you_  
_I can feel again_

_~One Republic, Feel Again_

* * *

"Remus? When is Dany gonna be back?" Harry probingly asked the older man after his Godmother had been gone for quite a few hours. The sun had set long ago in the sky, meaning that if the Dursley's wanted him back, they would soon be figuring out that this wasn't a day trip. Remus had smiled a little, even Harry could see the guilt in it, and said,

"She's going to get Sirius from jail, so she'll be a little while longer. Why don't you come over and look at some of those pictures and I'll tell you stories about your mom and dad?" Harry smiled. After no one mentioning his parents for the last seven years, it felt good that people were freely talking about them and wanted to tell him something about them. The sun had set long ago in the sky, meaning that if the Dursley's wanted him back, they would soon be figuring out that this wasn't a day trip.

"Okay. But Remus? If Dany told me who the—the…what was it again?"

"Secret keeper."

"Yeah, if she told me who the secret keeper was, why couldn't she remember?" Moony sighed and looked at his best friend's son sadly, although he had to admit he had asked the very same question in the moments he had seen Dany alone before she left with Albus for the Ministry and, presumably, Azkaban.

"Because in the days following the war, there was a ferocious search for you, by Voldemort's followers. She erased the name from her mind to protect you. If you had come forward as a baby and started babbling names like Peter Pettigrew, Sirius and Danilynn Black, and Voldemort, it would have been too easy to find you. You would have been given to Dany, and Sirius if you had remembered the real secret keeper, and you would have been too easy to find. She erased it from her mind to avoid the temptation of going to the Ministry. Does that make sense?"

"I guess so. I just wish that it had been safe for me to know sooner. I don't like the Dursleys. Do I have to go back? I don't want to go back."

"I don't know, Buddy. We have to wait for your Godparents to come back."

"Sirius is really coming?"

"You betcha." Harry spun around as fast as an eight-year-old possibly could and in the doorway was Dany. She smiled warmly at him and he couldn't help but running into her arms. She scooped him up and laughed saying, "Oof, this was a lot easier when you were a little one. You're so big now." She gently placed Harry down and her attention slid over to Remus, "He's at Hogwarts. Albus said that the potions master has some kind of potion that the Ministry uses on the occasions that they wrongly imprison someone. Something about that place just cripples you and the potion supposedly fixes your body, gives you your physical faculties back. Probably the that Dementors destroy you, if I had to venture a guess."

"How is he?" Remus asked as he smiled at one of his closest friends,

"He's…well he's Sirius. Albus said that they'd be along in an hour or so."

"Dany?" Harry's Godmother looked down at him,

"Yeah, Harry?"

"Can I live with you and Sirius?" She sank down towards the floor so she was at eye level with the sitting boy.

"Harry, we should wait until Sirius and Professor Dumbledore get here, so we can decide what to do about that. We want you to live with us, but I'm not sure how to go about it."

"I do believe that I can help with that." Everyone looked up to see Professor Dumbledore in the door where Dany had been standing minutes before.

"Professor Dumbledore? Do you have my Godfather? Dany said you had him." Harry demanded almost frantically of his future Headmaster (although he didn't know that part yet).

"Ah, well we wouldn't want Mrs. Black to be lying would we? No, he's right here." Professor Dumbledore stepped out of the way and there was a man behind him who looked to be about Dany and Remus' age. Harry recognized him from the memory that he had seen earlier today. Dany stood to her full height and hugged Sirius tightly and said something too soft for Harry to hear from where he was. He responded with something that sounded like 'of course'. She released hm and said,

"Harry, this is your Godfather, Sirius. Sirius, well…you know who this is." Harry cautiously moved towards his Godfather who was much taller than he thought he would be. He was taller than Remus and Professor Dumbledore and outright towered over Dany.

"Hey Harry. It's been so long. Too long. Well I hear that you wanna come live with us?" Harry nodded, now unsure of himself, "Well, we'd love to keep you forever and ever, if that's alright with you." Harry grinned now and hugged his Godfather and glanced over the older man's shoulder to see Dany still in the doorway, her eyes watering, with a hand over her mouth.

Unlike Dany, Sirius had no problem supporting Harry's weight, with his much bigger stature, and held him to his side as he moved over to Remus.

"Moony Lupin. It's been a long time since we've seen each other."

"Yeah, Sirius, about that…"

"Don't. You did nothing wrong. Can we please put this behind us?" Remus nodded slowly and Sirius continued to talk, "Now can we please address the fact that Snivellus is Potions Master at Hogwarts?" Dany's face turned to outrage and Remus' turned to shock. Dumbledore closed his eyes and looked like he'd rather be talking about of a number of other more unpleasant topics at the moment.

"What?! Albus have you completely lost your brilliant mind? _Snivelly_ is teaching?"

"Yes, Danilynn, _Severus_ is teaching Potions. He desired to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, but I denied him that."

"Bloody shame. Everyone knows that job's cursed."

"Sirius. Danilynn. _There is a child in the room_." Remus lightly added and all four sets of adult eyes turned to Harry, making it clear that even Sirius, who was still holding him, had forgotten that he was there, at least momentarily. Professor Dumbledore pinched the bridge of his nose and said,

"Yes, Severus Snape is teach Potions, and _no_ whatever you say will not convince me to change my mind as to allowing him to do so. Now in regards to Harry, I will arrange a meeting with the Department for the protection of Magical Children and go from there. One thing is clear though: Harry should not go back to where he was. From what I have been told the Dursleys were anything but kind to him. Danilynn, Sirius, Harry, will you go stay at Danilynn's current residence?" Dany cleared her throat,

"Yeah…it's not what I would call warm and homey so I really think we should consider looking into getting a new place."

"Where are you staying?" Sirius asked her curiously, and Harry couldn't help but be interested, himself.

"…My parents old place." She answered after a moment of silence. Sirius cleared his throat.

"Yeah…don't get me wrong, I loved your parents as much as the next person, but maybe moving would be a good idea."

"What's wrong with your parent's place?" Remus asked and Harry silently watched the adults from his position between Sirius and Dany,

"Think Versailles but a little smaller." Harry wasn't sure what Versailles was but it sounded big and scary. He wasn't sure he wanted to see this place, after all.

"Ah."

"Yeah…beautiful? Yes. Child-friendly? Not in the least. I know my family has some property out in Scottish country somewhere, though. I remember going there as a kid and loving it."

"Why don't you just live there?" Harry asked inquisitively. Dany smiled at him and said,

"I wanted to live near London, because of my job. Remember what I told you I do?"

"You're a bad wizard catcher?" She nodded at him,

"Yup. Well the headquarters is in London, so I wanted to be close to my work so I could get to headquarters faster if there was an emergency." Harry nodded. This made sense to even the eight-year-old. Dumbledore reentered the conversation and said,

"Why don't you stay at the Masters house outside London for tonight and then you can talk about where you want to move to. Remember that Grimmauld place and Potter Manor are both also options." The adults on both sides of Harry exchanged a look that told him that neither of these were real options. Sirius nodded,

"I think we'll do that. Dany, you wanna Apparate us?" Dany glanced at harry pointedly and said,

"How about we drive?" Sirius followed her gaze to Harry and nodded. Dany and Sirius hugged Remus and shook hands with Professor Dumbledore and harry waved shyly to both. Together the three of them left the Leaky Cauldron and loaded into Dany's car, for the first time ever, as a family.


	7. Lullaby

**Disclaimer: I promise i'm not stealing JKR's shit so don't steal mine and we can all be friends!**

**Hey guys! So, this is quite a lengthy chapter (for this story, at least) but we get a lot of Sirius' Azkaban background (poor guy) and I improvised on a lot of it because JKR never really talks about what went on there and yeah, but anyways, i loved writing this for some really morbid reason, so enjoy!**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy,**

**Stars.**

* * *

_So I'll sing a melody_  
_And hope to God she's listening_  
_Sleeping softly while I sing_  
_And I'll be your memories_  
_Your lullaby for all the times_  
_Hoping that my voice could get it right_

_~Mayday Parade, I Swear This Time I Mean It_

* * *

Sirius hardly remembered the Master's French-inspired home just outside of London, if he was telling the truth. He remembered that it was cathedral-esque and that Dany's room had been a bright color of yellow, but that was about it. Dany's family had owned the house for as long as they had been in power in the Ministry, so for pretty much forever, and the house (if it could even be considered a house and not an estate) was just as old as the surname that owned it. However, Dany was the last Masters left and didn't even carry the name, refusing to even hyphenate, claiming that Danilynn Charlotte Masters-Black sounded too stuck up. He quite agreed with her, actually. James would constantly joke in the year between Dany and Sirius' marriage and his own death that the Black children would eventually inherit the heftiest fortune in the civilized world, if lands and assets, along with liquid currency, were considered.

As they pulled up to where Dany had been staying for the past few years, Sirius quite agreed with his dead friend's assessment: between the Masters' fortune, the remnants of the Blacks' vaults in Gringotts that Sirius' mother hadn't managed to burn through in the years leading to her death (which he learned was soon after his incarceration, thank Merlin), and the vault of gold left to Harry, they were pretty damn rich. He heard Harry gasp from the backseat and say,

"So much better than Privet Drive." Dany winked at her husband and mouthed to him,

"Vernon and Petunia's place." Sirius nodded and turned around to talk to Harry,

"Harry, we're thinking about staying here, but there's also another house up in Scotland that we might move to, instead. Would you like to help us decide? Love, do you have pictures of the country house?" Dany nodded the affirmative as she pulled into the garage, "We'll all talk about that tomorrow, alright?" Harry nodded at his Godfather eagerly and Sirius suspected that he had never had the least bit of say in what happened to him and where he went before. Sirius and Dany clambered out of the car and helped Harry out of the car seat that Sirius had hastily transfigured from a chair after he had finally gotten his wand back from the Ministry, as Dany had never quite had the knack for it, much preferring to blow things up and jinx people and allowing Sirius to change things to something else entirely. Harry was almost done with the booster seats, but he was so skinny that they had decided to keep him in them just for a little while longer. Dany slowly rubbed her eyes as she searched for her keys in her bag. She finally gave up and pulled out her wand,

"Accio keys." The keys popped out of her bag and into her hand and Harry's eyes grew to the size of small dinner plates. Sirius said cautiously to his wife,

"Dany…does he know…"

"Yeah, I told him today but we didn't really talk much about it. Harry, we'll talk more about magic tomorrow, okay, Buddy? Im pretty tired tonight, so do you think that you can wait for tomorrow?" Harry looked slightly put out so Sirius said,

"Why don't I get Harry ready for bed and answer some of his questions tonight? You've had a long day, babe. Go to bed, I'll find your room after he goes to sleep. Sound good, Harry?" The little boy nodded enthusiastically, eager to have some one-on-one time with his Godfather. Dany nodded as well, with a small smile on her face, said goodnight, hugged Harry and then kissed her husband, finally leaving to fall asleep after one of the longest days of her life.

Sirius led Harry to one of the only rooms he knew in this house: Dany's old bedroom. He found the drawer of his old clothes that he had kept here, unbeknownst (or so he had thought at the time) to her parents and pulled out a t-shirt and pajama bottoms and shrunk them to Harry size. "It's not the best but it's all we've get right now. We'll get more soon, alright?" The young boy nodded and changed into the pants and the shirt (which was a Gryffindor shirt. Why not start him young? Sirius figured).

"Sirius? Why don't witches and wizards tell mug—muggles about magic?" Sirius sighed. Trust Lily's kid to ask one of the most serious questions about magic, like, ever.

"Well, if the Muggles knew that magic did really exist, they would want magic fixes for everything, and there are some things you can't fix with magic. Muggles don't understand that even we have our limits."

"You can't bring people back to life." It wasn't a question.

"No, trust me, Bud, I would have brought your mom and dad back in a heartbeat if I could have, but you can't. Reanimating a body is possible but the person never comes back, just a zombie that looks like that person."

"I miss them."

"Me too. Not a day goes by I don't miss your dad. And I know Dany misses your mom just as much. But I'm glad they're together. Your dad would be awfully sad without his Lily."

"They loved each other?"

"They loved each other so much that they couldn't go on living without each other. They had the kind of love that people spend their whole lives looking for, and they found each other at only 11." Sirius led Harry into one of the guest rooms and settled him into bed.

"Sirius? Do you love Dany like that?" Sirius smiled at his godson,

"Yeah, I love her like that. I love her so much it hurts, sometimes."

"I want to love someone like that."

"You will. And if you're anything like your family, it'll be a little redhead girl."

"Really?"

"Mhm, your dad fell in love with a redhead and so did his dad, Charlie. Now, I think it's time for the youngest to Potter to go to sleep. It's almost 10:30." Sirius flipped the lights off and he heard Harry murmur,

"Okay. Goodnight, Sirius." In the dark, Harry sounded so much like James that for a minute he thought he was in their first year dorm and he was 11 again, so young, so bright, so free. But soon the feeling vanished and he was back in the old Masters' house and his best friend's son, not his best friend was in the dark room, tucked into bed.

"Night, Harry. Sleep tight." Sirius softly closed the door and quietly tried to find Dany. He soon found a door that had a soft glow coming from under it, which he opened to find Dany asleep in a large armchair under a quilt that he recognized as the one Lily had made her when she had been in hiding. He carefully walked over and tried to wake her up.

"Dany. Dany. Come on, get up and come to bed." She stirred slightly and muttered something that didn't sounded very charitable. Sirius sighed and unceremoniously picked her up and put her in the bed. She opened an eye that was perfectly awake and she grinned,

"Sucker." Sirius rolled his eyes as she pulled off the quilt and folded it up and threw it back onto the seat of the armchair, revealing that she was in an old shirt and her underwear. She wiggled under the thick blanket and sheets and shivered, "It's about time you came up here. My legs were freezing under that thing."

"That probably has something to do with that fact you aren't wearing pants." Sirius chuckled as he got under the covers as well. It felt weird to sleep in a bed, for the first time in almost seven years, let alone with another person in the bed.

"Shut up." She laughed as she pressed her feet to his legs, making him jump.

"Good God, woman, what have you done to your feet? They're freezing." She laughed and said,

"I told you they were cold. I don't know what you're so shocked about. Your shins are very warm by the way." He rolled his eyes and she waved her wand, turning the lights off. Neither said anything for a moment, letting their eyes adjust and after a minute or two, Sirius could see her profile in the faint light from the cracked window. The dainty, slightly aristocratic features and the fan of silver hair so signature to her family. No one was really sure how all of the Masters ended up with that hair, some suggested inbreeding, other accused them of permanent cosmetic spells at birth, but Sirius was pretty sure that at least one, if not all, of his children would have the silver-blonde hair of their mother. He hoped that at least one of them would have his hair. It was hard to hide that hair, and no matter how much he loved it on her, it had been a real pain the ass to hide if they were trying to avoid being seen on work for the Order or the Auror department. Dany had tried to hide the color in their early years in school, casting daily concealment charms to turn it brown, until one day the spell had given out randomly in the Great Hall in the middle of breakfast, in front of the whole school, during their Third Year. Everyone had stared for a minute, but the situation blew over immediately when James had tossed an arm around her protectively and said, "Well we all know you're a real Masters now, Dan. There's been some talk, but there's no arguing with that hair, eh?"

"Hey, Dany?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad to be home."

"This isn't home. This is my parents' old home. I still think we should move out to the country. The house in Scotland is beautiful, and it would be great for Harry to have room to run and play and there's enough room on the grounds for a Quidditch Pitch. And when the leaves change there in autumn, there's nothing like it in the world. You didn't see where he was living before. He needs somewhere to be a kid."

"Danilynn, sweetheart, you completely missed the meaning. Home is where the heart is."

"…Oh."

"Yeah. You, Harry, and me. This is going to be quite the adventure, wouldn't you say?" She laughed putting a small hand over her eyes,

"And to think, no one's told McGonagall that we have Harry yet." Sirius laughed as she put her head on his chest.

"It should probably stay that way, huh? It can be a surprise." He responded.

"Oh, come on, Sirius, she's not as young as she was when she taught us. Another Potter, a surprise one, to boot, raised by _us_, might just take her out." Sirius laughed at the truth behind that and finally he murmured,

"Damn, last time we went to sleep like this we were kids in a war, with no responsibilities but our own lives, which we threw around like it was nothing. No kids, no bills, no adulthood. We were eighteen, young, and stupid. God, we were _so _young. It's unbelievable, isn't it? What seven years can do."

"…What was it like? Azkaban, I mean."

"Dany, I…"

"Please. I want to be able to help you as much as I can, but I can't if I don't know what it was like. I've been in Azkaban, but never with the Dementors near, and it already scares the crap out of me. Please, I want to understand. Help me, help you." Sirius sighed and he saw her head move slightly with his breath. He focused on her hair as he spoke.

"It…it was horrible. Everything was cold and the food was shitty. There was never a blanket for winters and the person in the cell to the right of mine muttered to himself nonstop. The person to the left was insane as hell and just kicked the wall between us all day and all night. Bellatrix was across the hall from me , at first, and she was unfortunately not reduced to a muttering mess, which of course would have been far too uplifting. She would yell things at me, about you, and about Harry. She would lie about how Lily and James died and would tell me that Voldemort had found Harry and killed him. After a while I started to believe it, but she was moved away from me, some new rule about relatives being separated or something, which makes no sense because most death eaters were related through the pure bloodlines. As years passed I felt my memories starting to slip away. The Dementors, they weren't even the worst part, you know. It was forgetting. It wasn't always hearing the bad that killed me. Forgetting the good was the worst part. By the time that I left, I could hardly remember your face. I could barely remember that you had flowers in your hair at our wedding. But I could sure as hell remember what James looked like, dead, but I couldn't remember his laugh, or what his voice sounded like. Just what his face looked like after he had been murdered. Harry…and Harry had become a memory so hard to recall that he had almost vanished. I had to say it out loud. Everyday I would repeat who I was to myself, so I wouldn't forget. I felt so pathetic, but I figured that it was better than forgetting." Nothing was said for a minute, and a silence filled the room that was so strong that it almost formed a third person in the room. Dany slowly moved her hand off his chest, next to where her face was, and took his hand.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I couldn't get you out of there sooner. If you don't mind too much…what did Bellatrix say about me? If you don't want to talk about it, I get it, but I'd just like to know."

"I didn't know Regulus was dead yet. I thought he was still alive and you'd always been pretty friendly too him because he was my brother and despite being a massive prick, he was a decent guy, but he was also a Death Eater."

"Yeah… but what does—"

"I'm getting there. I thought he was alive and, God I can still hear her yelling at me. As they were moving her from the cell across from mine she was shouting at me about how we'd spend the rest of our days in here, the last of the Blacks, and as she passed directly by she said, 'he fucked her, you know. Your brother fucked your pretty little wife before he cut her throat, but you weren't there to stop him. He fucked and killed her. She bled out in your bed, crying.'" Sirius felt Dany shiver and he quite agreed with that reaction.

"Sirius, you know that Regulus was killed not a week after you were arrested. He got cold feet and tried to leave Voldemort's services, but instead they killed him. He was a good man. He was weak, but good at his core. He wouldn't, and you know it."

"I know that now, but I didn't then. I thought you were dead until one day Kingsley Shacklebolt told me the truth when he was on an inspection in place of Fudge, who was too busy having some illicit affair with some woman who works at the Ministry—"

"Oh, no way."

"Yeah, he doesn't exactly bother to cover up his thoughts in the loony bin. But yeah he was thinking about some blonde woman on his desk last time he was at Azkaban, and if I remember correctly, his wife is a brunette."

"Crissy is most definitely a brunette."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. But anyways, Shacklebolt told me the truth because he thought no one deserved to believe that if it wasn't true."

"Kingsley's a good guy. Do you remember training him?"

"I sure do, he was quite the kid, but he was too merciful. Didn't you consistently kick his ass during dueling practice?"

"Yeah, because he didn't want to hurt a woman. He's one of the most valued Aurors in the department now, despite being just a kid. He's only what? 23? Not like we're much older." She laughed and Sirius was surprised to find that the knot that had been in his chest since he walked into Azkaban for the first time, as a prisoner was finally loosening.

"Dany?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"Being you."


	8. Love Don't Die

**Disclaimer: yeah...not mine.**

**Hey! So, we're getting into meeting some of the younger canon characters (red hair, hand me down robes...) and I'm excited! I tried to portray everyone pretty fairly and yeah let me know what you guys thought, please!**

**PS this is a super long chapter. like actually its 10 pages on my computer.**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy,**

**Stars.**

* * *

_If I know one thing, that's true_  
_It's that I'm never leaving you_  
_And you don't say much, yeah, that's true_  
_But I lose it when you do_

_Don't let them tell no lie_  
_Love don't die_

~_Love Don't Die, The Fray_

* * *

Dany woke up to a bright light in her face, and an arm wrapped around her for the first time in almost seven years. She glanced over at the clock on the bedside table. 7:30 in the morning. She slowly moved Sirius' arm off of her waist and eased off the bed, and quickly scrawled a note to leave on the bed. Silently, she left her husband, sleeping, to go find Harry. Dany quietly padded down the halls, checking each room for her Godson,

"Harry?" She whispered into the fourth guest room, to the lump in the middle of the bed. The lump squirmed a little as she approached to see that he too was still asleep, like his godfather was, the floor above him. Dany wrote him a note as well: _Harry, I am in the kitchen and Sirius is on the floor above you, please find one of us when you wake up, Love, Dany._

She left it next to him in bed and left his room, following the hallway to the kitchen. She had always loved the kitchen in this house. It was big, but not nearly as imposing as the rest of the house. It reminded her of home, of Hogwarts and of the house in Scotland. Dany opened the refrigerator and pulled out the milk and eggs that she was pretty sure weren't spoiled. As she was making scrambled eggs, she softly hummed to herself. As she was finishing up the eggs, she heard feet behind her.

"Hey, Harry. Right on time." She turned around, confirming her suspicions that it wasn't Sirius.

"You knew it was me, before you even turned around. How?" She laughed at her adorable Godson,

"To say that your Godfather isn't an early riser would be a spectacular understatement."

"Ohhh. What am I right on time for? Am I supposed to finish the eggs?" Dany looked at him and her eyes widened, as what he was talking about finally dawned on her,

"Oh, no Harry, I've made breakfast, you're just on time to eat it. Is there anything else you want? I guessed you liked eggs, most kids do, or at least most kids that I knew when I was your age did. I've got juice, milk, and maybe some bacon somewhere, but I have a feeling that you've seen a bit too much of bacon in your life." Dany laughed, referencing the bacon that he had been cooking when she had taken him from the Dursleys.

"Dany? Why are you making me breakfast? I've always made breakfast…"

"Because I honestly think you're too young to be near a stove by yourself. And don't you worry, you'll have chores, but there's no point in setting up a schedule until we decide where we're living." Dany sat him down in one of the chairs around the kitchen table and set a plate in front of him, "Tell me if you don't like something because I'm going to be making you food for quite a while, and would like to make you food that you like."

"Oh, no I love eggs, from what I've had before."

"Harry…what did you eat at the Dursleys?"

"Whatever Dudley didn't eat?" It was like a question. Dany took a helping of eggs herself and sat down next to Harry,

"Well that's just absurd, and from what it looked like Dudley could use a little less feeding, so that makes it just plain stupid." Harry laughed at her statement loudly and upstairs there was a loud thump, followed by a loud voice swearing. Harry's looked at his Godmother, apparently panicked.

"Ah, it appears that we awoke the monster." She muttered and Harry giggled again. There was a shuffling of bare feet coming downstairs and Sirius appeared in pajama pants, hair everywhere.

"Who was that giggling?" Harry nervously raised his hand and Sirius grinned, "Oh, well that's okay then, because if it was Dany it wasn't going to be okay." Dany rolled her eyes and waved her fork at him,

"Oh, shut it you. Breakfast is on the counter." Sirius grinned and ruffled Harry's hair as he walked by and kissed his wife, who laughed at him, as he moved in on the skillet of eggs. Harry watched the two, amazed at how they interacted. He had always assumed that being married always was like being like Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. At the age of four he had sworn never to get married for that very reason, but now? He wasn't so sure, because this marriage looked like a lot of fun. Sirius sat down with his breakfast on the other side of Harry and asked the boy,

"What do you think about talking about moving? Love, you have the pictures?" Dany nodded and stood, collecting Harry's plate along with her own, after Harry had put his utensils down and chugged his milk. She placed the dishes in the sink and called,

"Hey babe? Can you do the dishes?" as she left the room for the pictures of her childhood home. It was the house that she had grown up in, had loved and missed, and had hid in during the immediate fallout after the Potter's deaths and Sirius' arrest. She found the pictures she was looking for and brought them back down to the Kitchen, to where Sirius had apparently finished the dishes and was now making soap bubbles simply for Harry's enjoyment. She laughed and both boys looked at her, eyes wide and looking very much like they'd been caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar. She giggled again at their faces and pulled out her wand and quickly waved it, turning her husband's hair purple. Harry shrieked with laughter and Sirius looked mortified.

"Danilynn Black! What have you done to my hair?" She laughed again,

"Aw, I just…improved upon its already awesome color." Sirius didn't seem to believe her and yelled,

"Harry! Hold her down!" Harry ran at her and Dany let him tackle her, it being too easy for her to throw off her Godson. She fell to the ground as Harry held her arms down. Sirius came at her and proceeded to tickle her mercilessly (although she kept pretty tight control of her movements so she didn't hurt Harry), her shouts of laughter mingling with Sirius' screams of, "Do you submit? Will you turn my hair back? I want my hair back, Black!" She managed to yell out through her laughter,

"I submit! You win! Tell your partner in crime to let me up and I'll change it!" Sirius scrutinized his wife,

"Alrighty, Harry, let her up." Harry released her arms and Dany waved her wand, turning Sirius' hair back to its original color, except for a lone stripe directly down the back of his head. Harry saw it and giggled but Dany shook her head slightly and pressed a finger to her lips. He nodded back at her and they both smothered their giggles as Sirius gathered the pictures from where Dany had dropped them on the table, oblivious to the purple stripe. Dany lifted Harry back into a chair and said,

"So, this is the other house that we're thinking about moving into. What do you think?" Harry looked at her uncertainly. The house was beautiful, painted a buttery yellow with white columns in the front and brick chimneys. Dany loved the house, it was just as gorgeous on the inside and she still could remember the smell of the leaves changing in the fall, and what it felt like to see the first snowfall of the year cover the grounds from inside the library.

"I—I don't know…I mean I like it here, but there's awfully nice too. Dany where do you wanna live?" She smiled and said,

"I've lived both places and I'd be happy with either. It's up to you two boys." She gestured to her Godson and husband.

"I'd think you'd be happier somewhere like there, Harry. There's lots of room to run around and play games and you can invite your friends over, and there's a great hill for sledding on the back of the property." Sirius said softly, "It's much more like a home than this house is." Harry nodded thoughtfully. Dany cleared her throat,

"Why don't we take the car into town and get Harry some clothes and toys first, before anything is decided? Don't think I don't recognize that shirt that he's wearing, Sirius Orion Black." Sirius nodded at her and grinned,

"Why not start him young?" referencing the Gryffindor Quidditch shirt that had been shrunk down to Harry's size. Dany didn't looked convinced and said,

"Mhm."

"Aw, come on, Dan, you were just as much of a hot-blooded Gryffindor as I was." She grinned at her husband and lightly tapped his nose, as she scooped up her godson,

"Still am. Now, go get dressed, both of you." She ordered them both with a smile on her face.

* * *

An hour later saw all three of them in the car, heading back into London. Dany was driving because "Sirius Black, you were a horrible driver when we were 19, and I'm not letting you drive our Godson anywhere until you go through a driving class". So, to appease Sirius, she had let him be in charge of the radio in the car. Harry smiled, glad that he wasn't with the Dursleys, for the first whole day in, well, his whole life, or so it seemed.

So, Sirius had nonstop been fiddling with the knobs in the car, trying to settle on a song. He paused on a song with an angry man yelling.

"Hey, Dan, you remember this song?" She laughed a little and nodded, but as profanities started to spew out of the speakers, she changed it, gesturing with her head towards the backseat, "Oh, yeah. Little kids and swearing. Right. Got it." He tried again, settling on a man singing with a guitar. The song sounded pretty familiar to Harry, but didn't remember it with a guitar. Harry curiously asked the adults,

"What's it called when you play a normal song with just a guitar?" Sirius shrugged and said,

"Don't ask me. I've got no ear for music. Dany?" She shook her head slightly, in disbelief, Harry guessed,

"Acoustic. The acoustic version." Sirius shrugged again,

"Sounds right to me, anyways, Bud we've got to get you some clothes that aren't mine, huh?" Harry hesitantly nodded. He knew that they made clothes in his size, but had he ever worn any? Since Dudley was a whopping seven sizes larger than Harry, the answer would be a resounding 'no'.

"Hey, Sirius? I was thinking…I know that you and Remus have had a erm, strained relationship for a while, but I was thinking maybe he should move in with us."

"What? Dany…"

"Look. There's no way in, uhm, you-know-where that we can raise a kid on our own. We need someone who's got a level head. Remus would be good for Harry. Just think about it."

"Dan, after what he did…I don't know. I just don't know if I can do it." Harry wondered just what had happened between his Godparents and Remus. But before he could even begin to consider asking, Dany perked up and said,

"I know, just consider it, alright? Oh, look here boys, time to get Harry some clothes that were designed to be Harry sized, and not Sirius sized. Babe, can you tell me if I get close to the car behind me?" Sirius nodded and poked his head out of the window,

"You're good…you're good…you're good…you're goo—STOP!" Dany slammed the breaks, almost flinging them out of the windshield, except for Harry, who remained firmly in his booster seat. Dany whacked her husband over the head, frowning a little.

"_That_ is why Harry is still in a booster seat. That would just be peachy. We all survive one of the darkest and most powerful wizards _of all time_, only to be killed by a Muggle car accident, caused by your rotten depth perception." Sirius shrugged rather unabashedly,

"I became an Auror, not a traffic cop for a reason you know."

"How you were one of the best beaters Hogwarts has ever seen is beyond me. I'm surprised you managed to hit the bludger at this rate." Dany muttered as she got out and then helped Harry out of his booster seat (which although he had been a little put off by, he was now infinitely thankful for). Sirius got out and inspected the back of the car.

"See? We didn't even hit it!" Harry followed Dany to inspect the back of the car as well. Harry laughed,

"We _almost _hit it, Padfoot." And Harry was certainly telling the truth. The bumpers of the cars were no more than an inch apart, a few centimeters at best. Dany laughed at her Godson's assessment. The Ford Anglia that they had almost collided with looked fairly new, albeit a little beaten up, Harry thought, and just then, a redheaded family walked out from inside a store to their right. The man walked up to them and Harry saw Dany discreetly pull her wand out, she was expecting trouble that much was clear to the young boy.

"Excuse me, Danilynn, isn't it?" Dany nodded to him cautiously, "Yes, well you may not be aware, actually you're most likely not aware, but I'm—"

"Arthur Weasley. Department for the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts." The man raised an eyebrow.

"I'm surprised you know me, Miss. Masters." Harry saw Dany exchange a glance with Sirius,

"Actually, my name, it's not Masters…it's Black." Arthur Weasley raised an eyebrow,

"Black? As in…Merlin, I remember that you two were, uhm, involved in school, but I never imagined—"

"That I'm right here?" Arthur Weasley turned around to face Harry's Godfather. He wheeled to the woman that was with him,

"Molly! It's Sirius Black, take Percy and run!" The woman pulled her son back, but he protested.

"But Mom, didn't you read the paper this morning?"

"Not now, Percy."

"But Sirius Black was wrongly accused! How would he have escaped Azkaban otherwise?" Arthur and Molly looked at their son,

"Percy…are you sure?"

"Positive! I saw his face in the Prophet, except he looks better now." The older boy pulled out a newspaper from his bag that he carried and handed it to his father.

"By Merlin…here it is: 'Sirius Black, the man who was charged with the murder of Lily and James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, and thirteen muggles almost eight years ago, was found innocent this morning after evidence was turned into the Wizengamot, implicating no other than Peter Pettigrew, whom was previously believed to be dead, for the crimes formerly assigned to the last Black. Neither Mr. Black nor Danilynn Masters, the woman long believed to be engaged if not married to him, were able to be found for comment.'" Arthur and Molly glanced at each other, astounded.

"Oh, oh my. I am so sorry. I remember you both in school, and it seemed so odd that you would have given them up so easily, but everything was so convincing. Even Dumbledore testified against you." Molly addressed the last part to Sirius, "But please, both of you, come over for dinner tonight, and…oh, is he yours?" Dany laughed and Harry's eyes widened in shock, as he realized that she was referring to him.

"Oh, no, this is our Godson, Harry. Harry this is Arthur and Molly Weasley. Molly, Arthur, this is Harry, Lily and James' son." Molly placed a hand over her heart as she leaned down.

"Oh, sweetie, you look just like your dad, just like James." Harry smiled at this,

"Like my dad?" Molly smiled at this reaction.

"Just like him. Oh, goodness, I bet you our Ronnie is just about your age. He's at home though. We have seven kids, but Percy was the only one interested in going to the bookstore. You don't have any of your own?" Sirius shook his head and laughed

"No, no kids. I'd like some eventually but unlike Lily and James we were careful about pregnancy during the war." Dany smiled,

"We love Harry like a son, but I've always had a soft spot for a daughter." Molly laughed and gestured to Harry, who had wandered off with Percy, who was showing Harry the moving pictures on the front of the Daily Prophet.

"I understand, I had been given six boys, and I was sure I'd never have a girl but eventually little Ginny was born, not a year after Ronnie. It's certainly different, having a girl, compared to a boy." Dany nodded,

"Well, I'd actually would just really like to see this one here," as she gestured to Sirius who rolled his eyes and put an arm around her waist, "be wrapped around a baby girl's little finger. It'd be all good fun because you know what they say about fathers and their daughters…" Molly grinned,

"…The biggest players are blessed with the most beautiful daughters." Sirius' face drained of color and muttered,

"Lord, help me. I have a feeling that you two are going to get on spectacularly."

"Well, Danilynn was always someone who seemed pretty awesome in school. You all were looked up to in school, you know. You two, Lily and James, Remus, Marlene, Alice, Frank, you were envied by everyone in school."

"Oh, gosh Molly, call me Dany. Danilynn reminds me of frilly dresses and fancy foods that aren't legal in some countries. Like escargot. Damn French people." Molly laughed.

"Dany Black, I have a feeling we're going to get on famously."

"I have a feeling you're right, Molly."

"We have to get together sometime! You don't still live in your parents old house up in Scotland, do you?" Harry was listening to the adults' conversation because the novelty of the moving pictures had soon worn off and Percy was just horrible company, if he was being honest.

"Um, we're not really sure. I haven't been lately, but the house that my dad used to run the Ministry out of is no place for a child, which is where I've been staying because of my job."

"Oh, you work for the Ministry?"

"She's an Auror, Molly." Mr. Weasley added,

"Of course! I remember you in school, always ready to pick a fight for the greater good, huh?" Dany visible winced at the term. The Greater Good.

"Yeah, well it was easier living near London, especially right after the war ended. There was no such thing as 'off-call' for over a year, remember Arthur? Every time someone breathed too loud someone else thought it was a bloody Death Eater coming back to get them." Dany shuttered at the memory, as did Arthur, who also hadn't gotten a moment to relax in the months immediately following the war, "But we're thinking about moving back up there. It's much better suited to children than the London house is. Less like a palace, more like a home."

"Oh, well we live not two hours away from there, you know! We had absolutely no idea until we were driving north and we went right on by! Ginny demanded to know what was up the driveway but we couldn't see past the gates."

"Yeah, my parents were really big into privacy. Minister of Magic and all." Percy zoned right in on the conversation at the mention of the Minster.

"Your dad's Minister of Magic?" Dany nodded slowly, warily casting an eye around,

"He was when we were all in school."

"What's his name? I know all of the Minister's names." Dany exchanged a look with Molly who shrugged as if to say, 'I don't know why he knows that',

"Daniel Masters. And my mom's name was Rhea."

"Daniel Masters was _your_ dad? That's so cool. Dad why can't you be Minister of Magic?"

"Because I don't have the last name for it. Minister Weasley just doesn't have the same ring, wouldn't you say?" the adults laughed, but Dany looked a little sad, Harry noticed.

"Well, we should probably get off the street, I know the war's over, but old habits die hard it appears. Sirius looks like he's about ready to jump out of his skin, poor man. But you must come over for dinner tonight!" Everyone looked at Sirius, who was impatiently tapping his hand against his thigh, watching people who walked by the group of wizards, automatically sizing them up. Dany nudged him,

"What do you think, Babe? Dinner with the Weasleys tonight?" He nodded with a smile,

"Sure, we'd love to Molly, you said you had a boy around Harry's age?" Arthur nodded back at the other man,

"Ronnie's eight. He and Harry would get along great, I'm sure." Harry perked up,

"I'm eight, too!"

"See? Perfect! I'll give you our address and just Floo, apparate, or drive over at about 5, alright?" Dany nodded and accepted the hastily scrawled address from Molly.

"The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole. You live in Ottery St. Catchpole? I know just where that is, and so does Sirius."

"I do?"

"Yeah…that's where that bar is that we used to go to during summer—"

"Oh! Yeah, I know where it is." Molly raised an eyebrow and made a mental note to watch where Charlie, Bill, and Percy went during their summer breaks. Not that she had to worry about Percy. He was as clean cut a child as there ever was. Charlie and Bill on the other hand, were Fifth and Sixth Years and enjoyed getting into trouble more than they should.

"So, we'll be expecting you all around 5?"

"We'll be there! We might get lost a few times, but we'll be there." Harry waved bye to everyone, Molly hugged Dany and Sirius both, taking them both by surprise and Arthur shook both of their hands. All three Weasleys waved goodbye to Harry and got in the Ford Anglia to head presumably to the Burrow.

The truly ironic part of this encounter wasn't that it occurred in the Muggle world, or that 11-year-old Percy read the newspaper more than his parents, it was that as Sirius and Dany watched the Weasley family drive away, both Arthur and Molly were thinking, 'they're good for each other' where almost 10 years ago, they had taken bets on how long the last marriage of the Blacks and Masters would last. The highest bet hadn't exceeded 6 months.


End file.
